000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

Year B
First Sunday of Advent/Year B
Isaiah 64:1–9
In our commentary on Isaiah 63:7–9 (First Sunday after Christmas
Day/Year A), we noted that 63:7–64:12 laments God’s apparent absence
from the Judeans in their time of disillusionment after their return from
exile. They asked, Where is God? “Where is the one who brought them
up out of the sea . . . ? Where is the one who put within them his holy
spirit?” (63:11). “Where are your zeal and your might?” (v. 15).
Continuing the lament, our reading begins with a plea: “O that you
would tear open the heavens and come down . . . to make your name
known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence!”
(v. 1).
The prophet pleads with God to make God’s presence known to the
people and confesses on their behalf, recognizing that responsibility for
the strained relationship with God lies with the people who had been controverting
God’s will for them. “We have all become like one who is
unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like
a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away” (64:6).
The people can open themselves to God’s blessing and salvation by
turning to God (shuv). Sometimes Third Isaiah addresses splits within
the people, but in 64:5b–7 he conducts the whole people in an acknowledgment
of their sin. Reflecting the Jewish view that the gates of repentance
and reconciliation with God are always open, he enables the people
to become responsible for facing themselves (which only they can do)
and once again open to themselves the possibility of relying on God’s
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